DATE=1/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L)
NUMBER=2-258426
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A senior Russian general says nearly 12-
hundred soldiers have been killed in action in the
current military offensive in and around Chechnya.
Moscow Correspondent Peter Heinlein reports federal
forces are locked in a fierce battle with rebel
fighters for control of a strategic square near the
center of the Chechen capital, Grozny.
TEXT: General Valery Manilov says Russia has lost at
least 11-hundred-73 Russian troops since fighting
began in the Dagestan region bordering Chechnya last
August. In a report quoting General Manilov and other
officials, the semi-official Interfax news agency said
another 35-hundred soldiers had been wounded in
battle.
The numbers are nearly double what officials were
admitting just a couple of days ago. The privately-
owned N-T-V television channel this week reported
actual casualty rates could be as much as 10-times
greater than official figures.
The death toll appeared to be mounting as fierce
battles raged in the streets of Grozny. Rebel
fighters were reported putting up stiff resistance in
the face of a ferocious Russian assault around Minutka
Square, a main junction leading to the center of the
capital.
Minutka Square has been the scene of several deadly
battles, both in the current war and the previous one,
from 1994 to 1996. Control of the square is
considered essential for further advances toward the
city center.
Russian television reports federal troops are
encountering heavy sniper and machine gun fire from
mobile Chechen units using the city's vast network of
concrete bunkers and bombed-out apartment buildings as
cover. N-T-V interviewed a wounded soldier who said
hundreds were dying from sniper fire and land mines in
Grozny.
The advance of ground troops in the capital is making
it more difficult for Russia to use its superior air
and artillery power for long-range strikes on Grozny.
Nevertheless, military sources say warplanes and
helicopter gunships carried out 250-sorties in the
most recent 24-hour period. Many of the strikes were
on suspected rebel hideouts and supply routes in
Chechnya's southern mountains. (SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/GE/RAE
25-Jan-2000 13:56 PM EDT (25-Jan-2000 1856 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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